Family C-6: Adeline

This still-active family was developed by the Thompson family for many generations. John Thompson (1796-1873) was the son of a Yorkshire wool-processing family emigrated to New South Wales in 1832, where he became a manager of the wool production for the NSW stations of Edward Cox Sr. of Fernhill, Mulgoa. His son, William Barber Thompson (1821-1899) eventually established his own homestead, Olinda, six miles east of Rawdon, and on the Nullo Mountain plateau above it, where he bred draft horses and sheep.

W.B. Thompson, his father, and his son, John Thompson Jr. (1844-1914), eventually acquired Crown land in the Widden Valley, and with partners, purchased other property, including Widden Valley land that had been owned by John Tindale (owner of imported Duke of Athol, by Blair Athol). By the 1880s the Thompson family owned most of the valley between Holbrook and Widden stations, including the land that became known as the Oakleigh Stud, while acreage at Widden was also developed as a thoroughbred nursery, called Widden Stud.

In 1867 John Thompson Jr. and his brother-in-law John Frost began to emphasize the breeding of draft and saddle horses at the Widden station, and influenced by their neighbor, John Lee in the Bylong Valley, and successful racing at Sydney and Melbourne, they began to purchase thoroughbred mares, including the young mare Adeline, bred by John MacDonald of Wallabadah, NSW. Adeline's sire, owned by John Lee, was imported Kingston (1860, by Kingston - English Beauty), a significant mid-century stallion that got stakes winners in New South Wales, Queensland, and India. Lee also owned Marquis (1837, by imported Dover), an excellent stayer and later sire of Sappho, the taproot mare of Family C-1, who had sired Adeline's grandam, Lucy. Lee was a highly influential breeder of early thoroughbred bloodstock, including The Barb (Sir Hercules - Fair Ellen from the Cutty Sark Family, Family C-3), Bylong, and the famous Steeltrap Mare (Family C-16).

The partners Thompson and Frost purchased the native-born thoroughbred stallion The Fop (1866, by Sir Hercules - Vanity) from Lee, and in the early '80s the stallion Roodee (1875, by Yattendon- Lady Chester) stood at Oakleigh. Probably the most significant stallion to stand at Oakleigh and Widden was Lochiel (1882, Prince Charlie-Nelly Moore), imported in-utero to New Zealand from England, a great stayer, and at Oakleigh leading sire in Australia five times. The well-bred English import Grafton (1894, by Galopin-Maid Marian), was another influential stallion at Oakleigh and Widden; and the Thompsons later stood the New Zealand-bred stallion Royal Artillery (1898), and Maltster (1897, by Bill of Portland - Barley), the latter leading sire in the years between 1909 and 1915. Most of these stallions can been seen in the Adeline family tree.

Adeline dropped her first foal when she was around the age of five, producing thirteen foals in fifteen years, nine of which survived foalhood. Her first was Master Linne (1872) by Lord of Linne. The next was a grey daughter, Adela (1873, by The Fop), and Adela later bred Oakleigh (1882), by Roodee (see below). Adela's half-sisters, Barbara (1874), by John Lee's stallion, Barbarian (full brother to The Barb), and Affection (1878 or 1879, by Cheddar), continued the family line at Oakleigh and Widden, which has produced many successful stakes winners to the present. The next foal was Nina (1879 or 1880, by Lecturer). The remaining foals that survived were Rheda (1883), Dolphin (1884) and Lillias (1886), all by Roodee. Nina, Rheda and Lillias all also bred on, but Lillias was the only one of the three whose branch was successful beyond a couple of generations, which included the racemare Eulacre (1913), who won the Gimcrack Stakes and was grandam of AJC Kirkham Stakes winner Tingalba.

Recent descendants of this family include Australian Cup and Futurity Stakes winner Crewmanand Soho Square, who won the G1 AJC Doncaster Handicap (1600 meters), the AJC Villiers Stakes, and other graded stakes races between 1992 and 1994.

Notable Descendants